Fic Round Up for 2010

I must admit, I've felt a bit blocked this year, which hasn't affected my quantity particularly, but has, I think, affected my quality - or at least the amount of satisfaction writing usually gives me. That's not to say that everything's bad - I'm not that self-pitying :) - it's just not as good as I wanted some of it to be. I did stick to my usual resolution of posting at least one fic a month though - which I'm pleased about, but I'm thinking of relaxing this resolution for this year. Maybe slightly less pressure will improve things? Or a rest will help? Hmm.

January

Stage Beauty, Lotrips. Billy/Dom, PGIt's Orlando's idea really, but it's Ian that puts it into practice. What could be better than the theatrical reunion of the cast for the ten year anniversary of Lord of the Rings?Word Count: 4,853

One of Us, Merlin, Merlin/Arthur, PG, AUArthur Twist is in a bad way - he's on the streets of London without a farthing to his name, and he hasn't eaten for a week. So how come the magic fingers of a boy with flashing blue eyes and a top hat are so fascinating?Word Count: 3,079

February

Science Abuse, Peep Show, hints of Mark/Jez, Mark/Johnson, RWas Mark Corrigan really the sort of middle-class, middle-rank executive who should be getting himself involved in anything that could be described as a circle jerk?Word Count: 1,000

March

Sheep in Wolf's Clothing, Being Human, George/Mitchell, PG-13Vampires hate werewolves but no-one knows why. When Mitchell starts sensing strange vampires congregating outside their house, he thinks nothing of it, until he realises that it's only outside their house. What do these bestial creatures want? Surely it can't be... George?Word Count: 15,429

Extenuating Circumstances, Peep Show, Mark/Jez, R, dub conPrompt: Peep Show, Mark/Jeremy When Jeremy spikes Mark's lemsip and puts him to bed so he won't interrupt his mushroom party, he thinks "It's alright, it's not like I'm going to rape him. I could rape him... no, I'm not going to rape him." He doesn't, but there's stuff he could do while Mark's asleep and justify to himself it wasn't really rape...Word Count: 2,642

May

Into the Abyss, Star Trek reboot, mystery POV, GPrompt: The lone Vulcan studying the black hole that was once home.Word Count: 2,559

Distraction, Double Word Score, 28 points, David Mitchell/Charlie Brooker, RWhat can two men do locked in Jonathan Ross' panic room with only someone's stupid crush and a Scrabble set to keep them company?Word Count: 4,189

In Any Event, That Mitchell and Webb Look, Peter/the Host, PG-13There’s two people left at the End of the World – and they’re not Adam and Eve.Word Count: 2,394

November

Kingmaker, Being Human, Mitchell/George, AU, RIn Nightshift, the supernatural police-force, every agent is paired with his canine Cwn Annwn companion. But George and Mitchell have no ordinary partnership, and one full moon their special bond is tested to the limit - until, in the end, maybe the only person who can save them is their new friend - the ghost girl, Annie.Word Count: 14,278

December

Blue Carbuncle, Sherlock, Sherlock/Lestrade, PG“How do you know I even want a present?” Sherlock asked, “I hate pandering to the forces of Mammon and Mithras alike. Christmas is an overrated occasion, not least because everything stops for a minimum of two days, and often much longer - the whole affair has always been dull when it isn’t excruciating.”Word Count: 3,073

The Battels of Michaelmas, Sarah Jane Adventures, Clyde/Luke, PGLuke’s gone to Oxford and Clyde doesn’t like it much. There’s a visit, during which Clyde kicks things and Luke pines. Eventually Clyde even notices...Word Count: 4,473

Knights Errant, 13th Century RPS, Piers Gavaston/Edward II, PGPiers can always persuade Edward into anything. Surely, just a day or two's escape from the Scottish front will be forgiven by his father eventually?Word Count: 2,483

Being Good Isn't Always Easy, American Gothic/Son of a Preacher Man (song) crossover, Caleb Temple/Billy-Ray, PGCaleb Temple has always avoided relationships, because the more people that care for him, the more vulnerable he is to being hurt by his father Lucas Buck. Billy-Ray, the preacher's son, is the only one who could ever reach him...Word Count: 3,045

So this year, I have written 90,577 words, over 22 stories, in 13 fandoms. I find it mildly amusing that although the word count is down slightly (I expected it) the number of fandoms and fics have turned out exactly the same as last year!

My favorite story of this year: Mad North-North-West, I think, because it pleased me to finally finish a fic that had been sitting on my hard drive for two years! And it came out not half bad - I'm not usually comfortable writing humour, but I thought this was funny.

My best story this year: Possibly Coincidence - it came out tight and spare, and felt like I needed not to change a word. Which is always pleasing. Although Knock-back, Blue Carbuncle, and Stage Beauty are crafted well too, I think.

Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Definitely Creature Feature. For a decent Merlin RPS fic, it got virtually no attention at all, and I thought it deserved better - although Merlin fic in general this year appears to be suffering a lack of comments. Possibly a result of the youth of the overall fandom? Or its lack of attention span? Hard to say.

Most fun story: In Any Event, maybe? It's not funny at all, but I adored writing it. By that measure, Extenuating Circumstances should be in there too, and Touch of Genius. Ooh, they're all David Mitchell related! Must be significant - valderys shall have fun wherever David Mitchell shall be present! (Although Mad North-North-West is the only actually funny one :)

Most sexy story: Well, Gentleman of Quality is my only actual NC-17 story this year :) But there are a couple of Rs in there too - I'm not sure Science Abuse counts as sexy however. Or Extenuating Circumstances, or Distraction, Double Word Score, 28 points - although that's slightly closer. Maybe Distraction then - there's actual middle-aged fucked-up romance in that. Sort of.

Most "Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story: Hee. For once there's a real battle for this category, which isn't usual at all. There's the Peep Show circle jerk in Science Abuse, which is quite icky, there's cannibalism in In Any Event, and the dub con of Extenuating Circumstances with Jez being dodgy again (there's a pattern, isn't there?) But considering Peep Show itself is so much worse, I'm not sure they should win? It's not genuinely icky but it might be considered a sort-of beastiality, so I'm going to put Kingmaker - man and his dog getting friendly - or vampire and his were-creature, anyway :)

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Let's go with Knight's Errant - every time I write historical RPS I end up loving the characters and all I find out about them in my research. I barely knew anything about Piers or Edward before writing this, but I got very fond of them as I wrote for them. Poor Piers. Poor Edward. They didn't deserve all they got.

Hardest story to write: My big bangs. I'm finding the longer fic harder and harder to write - I probably won't sign up to any big bangs this year, it's just not worth the stress. So call it Kingmaker and Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.

Biggest Disappointment: Perhaps The Battels of Michaelmas - I was so fired up, the pairing, the idea! - but I don't think I did it justice, sadly. Which could also be said of my two big bangs. And Five Times John Sheppard Won at Sports, and Being Good Isn't Always Easy, and... I said I was a little disappointed generally this year, didn't I? :)

Biggest Surprise: Collectible maybe? It's the little fic that keeps on giving. It was written in the first week of Sherlock as a fandom, so I wonder if that is why it keeps turning up on rec lists?

Most Unintentionally Telling Story: No idea. It doesn't feel like I've put much of myself in here this year. Maybe Into the Abyss, because I really felt for my lone Vulcan... Or Five Times John Sheppard Won at Sports, because I tend to think of SGA as comfort food and wrote it entirely that way - I really don't have a clear winner for this one.

Story I haven't yet written, but intend to: Well, it's still on my list to do but whether I'll get round to it... I want to write a Merlin/Firefly crossover, but don't know if I have the impetus any more. And there's still Torchwood - another year in which I still haven't managed to go back and write another word... I'd like to, I think, just once. Just to prove I can. Oh, and I doubt it will be this year, but I expect I'll be writing Hobbit RPS at some point. Richard Armitage and Aiden Turner and Martin Freeman? I'd say it's likely :)